Early discounting sees UK retail sales rise in June

Retail sales in the UK were boosted by 4% year on year, helped by warm weather and an early start to retailers’ summer Sales.

According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics, year-on-year sales have risen for 27 consecutive months – the longest period since May 2008. However, sales dropped 0.2% compared to May this year.

As retailers started discounting, prices fell 2.9% year on year in June, making it the 12th consecutive month of falling prices.

The value of online sales increased by 1.4% in June compared to May and accounted for 12.4% of all retail sales. Online sales in June increased by 11.4% year on year.

Dan Wagner, founder and chief executive of ecommerce technology firm Powa Technologies, said: “While today’s sales results appear to be encouraging, retailers must not get complacent. The figures were clearly boosted by the good weather and early discounting.

“If businesses want to see continuous growth they must develop an omnichannel approach, where the online and offline worlds are seamlessly integrated and shoppers can purchase products quickly and efficiently. If they fail to adopt this approach, then today’s encouraging results will just be a one-off rather than a continuous trend of growth.”

Retailers have reported an uplift in sales over the bank holiday weekend, as temperatures dropped and families hit the shops as the summer holidays draw to a close, and are cautiously optimistic about the season ahead.

Warmer weather in September could cost non-food retailers £80m per week, according to a new report from the British Retail Consortium based on Met Office data.

Readers' comments (1)

Anonymous24 July 2015 2:04 pm

Discounting destroyed the summer just at the time when people were prepared to pay full price for summer stock. The clothing trade must love working for nothing. It needs a complete overall how it operates and give the customers what they want at the right time, instead of becoming all year round discounters.

Have your say

Please remember that the submission of any material is governed by our Terms and Conditions and by submitting material you confirm your agreement to these Terms and Conditions. Links may be included in your comments but HTML is not permitted.